Sharansky: from Soviet Dissident to Pres. Bush's Muse

[Rose Siding]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - It's been a long and lonely road for former Soviet dissident Natan (Anatoly) Sharansky who has for years been ridiculed for his political theories of spreading democracy across the globe to obtain world peace.

But the former Soviet "refusenik," who is now a cabinet minister in the Israeli government, no longer walks alone. His companion in his campaign to democratize the world is no less than President Bush.

To have the ear of the most powerful leader in the world after decades of having his political ideology dismissed as naive and eccentric is a pleasant change for the diminutive Ukrainian-born mathematician.
...
"I told him (Bush): 'You are the real dissident. Politicians look at polls -- what is popular, what is not popular. A dissident believes in an idea and goes ahead with it ... even when there are so many people who disagree,"' Sharansky said.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7499568&src=rss/ElectionCoverage

[tom_paine]

1. From Soviet Dissident to "Kinder and Gentler" Nazi Enabler

(The link is broken)

What a long strange trip it's been.

Poor Sharansky. He can recognize Tyranny in his own land and people, but if a slick talking Tyrant falsely clothed strokes him, then it's "hey, wherecan we stash the rounded-up dissidents".

One would expect Sharansky, who is old, will pass away before Phase Three of the transformation shoves the reality of Amerikan Tyranny in his face that he cannot help but notice.

Poor Sharansky, to lend his good name to a Tyrant, which sullies his previous tsanding against Bushevik, sorry Bolshevik, Tyrants.

[Rose Siding]

2. It still works for me but try this

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7499568&src=rss/ElectionCoverage

[bluestateguy]

3. And his military service was in...?

Anyone?

[TahitiNut]

4. Soviet dissidents, like their messages, come in different flavors.

Boris Pasternak wrote 'Doctor Zhivago.' As can be seen in the movie, much was an apologetic for inherited wealth/class and a condemnation of the brutishness and monomania of the revolutionaries. The 'romance' between Zhivago and Lara was iconized, while Tonya's loyalty, diligence, and integrity was given a back seat. Lara was called a slut in the movie by Komarovsky - and it takes one to know one, I guess. So, while the complexities (features and flaws) of Zhivago, Lara, and even Komarovsky were depicted (even with some imbalance), the unalloyed and simplistic depiction of the revolutionary factions as amplified by a very sympathetic depiction of a privileged class seems to me to be more of a fascist view than a democratic one.

In other words, just being critical of the Bolshevik/Communist regime doesn't a "democrat" make.

[bin.dare]

5. Sharansky is a far-right wing hawk ...

... he is so hawkish he calls Sharon soft on Palestinians. This is according to the WP.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5556-2004Nov22.html

he deserves ZERO respect from any of us. period.

[Rose Siding]

6. "When he turns in his book report, I'll believe it..."

TBogg writes

http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2005/01/when-he-turns-in-his-book-report-ill.html

I'm calling bullshit
...
We would like the President to sit down and write a 5-page summation of Mr. Sharansky's book (single spaced) on live pay-per-view TV. We'll even make it an open-book test.

Oh. And no hearing-aids allowed.